“I’m wondering whether it’s worthwhile being in this business,” the owner told us during our discovery call.
His family’s dancewear business had been serving the UK dance community for over 35 years. Now, after inheriting it and fighting through COVID, he watched helplessly as sales dropped 20% year-over-year. Google Ads that once returned 6x were barely hitting 3x. Despite 16,000+ product variations and fierce competition from bigger players, the real killer was hiding in plain sight.
The checkout was broken.
The Death by a Thousand Cuts
“The website hangs during checkout,” he explained. “Customers don’t know whether their order’s gone through. They didn’t get a confirmation email.”
We see this pattern constantly. Store owners pour money into ads and SEO, driving traffic to sites that literally can’t complete sales. Their generalist web agency built them a functional store, but when it came to the complexities of WooCommerce performance and checkout optimization, they were out of their depth.
After 10 years focusing exclusively on WooCommerce, we know these symptoms well. So we ran our 223-point UX audit based on 130,000+ hours of Baymard Institute research. What we found was worse than expected.
7 Checkout Failures Destroying Conversions
1. Mobile Controls That Don’t Work
Dance teachers ordering between classes couldn’t adjust quantities. The +/- buttons were microscopic on mobile—where 74% of their traffic comes from. Multiple misclicks meant abandoned carts.
Fix: Touch targets meeting 44×44 pixel minimum standards
Impact: Cart modification errors down 28%
2. Trust-Killing Button Chaos
Every checkout screen had different button styles in different locations. By the third screen, customers questioned if this was even a legitimate business—critical when you’re competing with established giants.
Fix: Consistent button design and placement throughout
Impact: Step progression increased 18%
3. Error Messages From Hell
Submit the form. Get three vague errors. No indication which fields need fixing. Customers scrolled frantically trying to guess what went wrong. Many gave up.
Fix: Inline validation with specific correction guidance
Impact: Form abandonment reduced 31%
4. The Vanishing Information Act
Teacher checks student’s size requirement. Returns to checkout. All shipping data gone. With limited time between classes, re-entering everything wasn’t an option.
Fix: Persistent field storage throughout the session
Impact: Navigation abandonment down 42%
5. The Phone Number Suspicion
Required phone field. No explanation why. In an era of spam calls, unexplained data collection kills trust faster than poor design.
Fix: Added context: “Only for delivery updates. No marketing calls.”
Impact: Field completion up 13%
6. Forced Account Prison
After struggling through checkout issues, customers faced mandatory account creation. Password requirements. Email verification. They just wanted leotards, not another relationship.
Fix: Guest checkout with optional post-purchase account creation
Impact: Conversions up 36%
7. The Invisible Submit Button
The worst failure: “Place Order” hidden below the fold on mobile. Customers couldn’t find how to complete their purchase. Orders moments from completion, abandoned.
Fix: Critical CTAs always visible above fold
Impact: Mobile conversion rate improved 27%
From Generalist to Specialist: The Real Difference
This store’s problems weren’t unique. They’re what happens when generalist agencies tackle specialized ecommerce challenges. After 10 years working exclusively with WooCommerce, we’ve seen these patterns hundreds of times.
The difference? We don’t guess. We know exactly which checkout elements kill conversions because we’ve tested them across 100+ WooCommerce stores.
The Technology That Changes Everything
Beyond fixing UX issues, we implemented our headless WooCommerce solution—the same technology stack powering Nike, Netflix, and Porsche. Gourmet Basket, another client, now processes three months of revenue in their peak week without breaking a sweat.
What is headless commerce? Simply put: your WooCommerce backend stays exactly the same, but customers get lightning-fast performance. Pages load in 0.6 seconds instead of 3-5. Search is instant. Filtering is immediate. The checkout never hangs.
Most importantly: you keep managing everything in WooCommerce exactly as before. Changes sync in 20-30 seconds. No new systems to learn.
The 90-Day Transformation
Working with a WooCommerce specialist means:
- Problems diagnosed correctly the first time
- Solutions based on data, not opinions
- Implementation that actually works
- A partner who understands your platform inside out
This dancewear retailer went from questioning the business’s viability to having a checkout that converts. In 90 days.
Your Checkout Is Costing You Money Right Now
Every hour your checkout remains broken, you’re losing sales. With conversion improvements typically exceeding 20% and ROI within 3-4 months, the math is simple.
Stop letting a broken checkout destroy your family business.
Schedule a Call → Discover exactly where your checkout is failing and how to fix it.
P.S. – That dancewear store? Nine months from closing when we met. Now they’re growing again. Because sometimes all you need is the right specialist who actually knows WooCommerce.
